Ethics in Forensic Science

Class Code:

A130

Subject Area:

A - Professional Communication and Conduct Program

Class Location:

California Criminalistics Institute / Los Angeles

Class Description:

This one-day (eight-hour) course focuses on the practical application of forensic science ethics codes to ethical dilemmas encountered in forensic science and offers instruction in the background of ethics codes. The course is not intended to teach individuals to be honest or good, and it is not a forum for an instructor to impose his or her personal views of what constitutes ethical conduct. Instead, the class provides tools to readily access the content of roughly two dozen forensic science ethics codes from around the world and gives individuals the opportunity to apply that content to realistic scenarioes and discuss their results with the class. Lecture materials offer insight into the role of morals, motivations for unethical conduct, the various types of codes, their history, their features and purpose, their differences and similarities, and their enforcement policies. Issues surrounding filing an ethics complaint or being the subject of an ethics allegation are discussed. The target audience is individuals who work with evidence in traditional crime laboratory disciplines or who teach in a forensics science program (for example: criminalists, latent print examiners, questioned document examiners, evidence technicians, and forensic science educators). Class size is limited to fifteen students.

Students will be required to become familiar with the content of ethics codes from several forensic science professional associations, and to complete practical exercises in applying that knowledge to realistic ethical dilemmas.

Preparation:

Prior to class, students must submit a short scenario (about one paragraph) describing an ethical dilemma in forensic science. The submitter shall redact any identifying information. The instructor will not link student names to those submissions that are used in class.

Materials Fee:

$25.00 Materials fee will be charged to all non-CA DOJ students. This charge is due at the beginning of the class. Make check(s) payable to the California Department of Justice.

Tuition:

No cost to POST-supported or State of California based law enforcement agencies. A $120.00 tuition fee will be required for all other public agency, private sector, or out-of-state applicants. Make check(s) payable to the California Department of Justice.